Yours In Rivalry and In Friendship
by Z.Quill
Summary: Rather than go to Orochimaru after his fight with Naruto, Sasuke comes back to Konoha, not caring about what life now awaits him. Naruto is glad Sasuke is still with them, but for how long, and how much of their friendship still exists? Non-yaoi. Oneshot


**This was just an idea as to what if the road Sasuke was walking at the end of his appearance in the original series wasn't away from Konoha, but towards it. Its first title was going to be "The Road Not Taken," but the story evolved and didn't quite fit that title anymore, nor did it reflect the poem. **

**I know I should be focusing on ****The Kaiba Heir****, or, at least, ****The One Friend of Seto Kaiba****, but I've been adding bits and pieces to this story for a while, and the other day things just took off with it. Plus, everyone deserves a break now and then, and if I don't relax for a moment by writing something that doesn't have any pressure behind it, my head's going to explode.**

**Anyway, this fic's not necessarily shounen ai, but you could take it that way if you wanted to. I don't mind ^-^. But, this was originally intended to merely be a friendship fic, so the only thing that you could really get out of it would be that maybe Sasuke and Naruto were on their way to becoming a couple. **

**As usual, my fanfiction is written from the English-dubbed anime. I don't own ****Naruto****.**

"Sasu…ke."

"Naruto? Are you awake?"

"…Sakura?" Naruto's eyes opened the slightest bit.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake, Naruto! I was beginning to think you'd never wake up!" Naruto was suddenly swamped in the hug Sakura was giving him.

"Sakura? What's going on?" Naruto was dazed. Where was he? Why had Sakura been so worried? Where was Sasuke?

_Sasuke._

Naruto inhaled a gasp of breath, wincing at the pain of it combined with Sakura's crushing embrace.

"Sakura, let go," he wheezed out.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Naruto." She immediately released him, stepping back and clasping her hands in front of her, a look of glad relief on her face… but, a shadow hidden in her eyes.

"What are you doing here, Sakura?"

"I came to visit you. Of course, I do volunteer here every now and then, and first I went to visit Sasu—… well, never mind, but—"

"Wait, where is here?" Naruto asked, eyes wide and a bit blurry.

"It's the hospital, Naruto," Sakura answered quietly after a moment, not looking at him.

"…I guess I should have figured that out on my own," he mumbled quietly, looking down at his bandaged hands and arms.

"…Thank you… Naruto," Sakura suddenly said.

Naruto looked up, shocked. "What for?"

"For bringing Sasuke back." Gratitude poured from Sakura's pale spring green eyes.

"He… he came back? Sakura—" Naruto was cut off by the door opening.

"Nice to see you're awake, Naruto," Shikamaru greeted, a small, lazy smirk on his lips.

"Shikamaru… H-how is everyone?" Naruto asked urgently, the events of the previous day catching up with him in bits and pieces. Had only a day gone by?

"Don't worry about them. They're a tough group. They're all in the hospital at the moment, but everyone's gonna pull through, including you, it would seem. I'm just glad we didn't get our asses handed to us for nothing." Shikamaru made his way over to the foot of Naruto's bed, flopping himself down to sit on the end. "So, how are you, Naruto?"

"Not bad, but wh—"

Again the door slid open. "Hey, guys," Kakashi greeted even more languidly than Shikamaru, eyes half-lidded, arm raised only partway in greeting.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura greeted.

"Hey, Kakashi," Shikamaru hailed.

"Hello. How are you feeling, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, making his way to the bedside.

"Heh, a little overwhelmed, actually," Naruto admitted. Kakashi looked him over, seeing the burning waves of curiosity lapping within Naruto's eyes.

"Hmm. Has anyone been told you're awake, yet?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so." Naruto frowned. _I guess someone should be told…_

"Ah. Sakura, Shikamaru, could you two please go find Naruto's doctor and tell them he's awake for me, please?"

"Do you want his doctor or Tsunade?" Shikamaru asked, wanting everything to be clear.

"How about both. Each of you can go and fetch one of them to bring back here."

Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag," he muttered under his breath. "Alright," he said as he stood up, stretching. "Let's go, Sakura." He began making his way to the door.

"Mmhm, right." She turned to look at Naruto. "I'll come by and see you later, okay? Oh! And, I'll go tell Sa—"

"There's no reason to be telling anyone but Naruto's doctor that he's fine, Sakura," Kakashi interrupted, a stiffness entering his tone and posture, belying his appearance of half-asleep and indolent.

Sakura looked at him for a moment before nodding, seemingly unhappy about something. "Yes. I guess I'll just see you later, then."

"Yeah, later."

Once Sakura closed the door behind her, Kakashi walked over to the windows of the hospital room and looked down at the people walking below.

"Kakashi… I have questions," Naruto said.

"I suspect you do," was all he got for reply.

"Is the rest of the team really alright?"

"Indeed they are. Each of them had a hard time in their respective battles. Neji and Choji came close to death, and then there's Shikamaru who escaped with just a broken finger."

"What about Lee?"

"He was greatly exhausted, and a bit hung-over, but, other than that, he was just fine."

"And, Kiba?"

"Sick as a dog, as is Akamaru, but both are expected to make full recoveries." The glib answers made Naruto smile a little bit.

"That's good."

"Any other questions you'd like to ask?" The fact that Kakashi hadn't looked away from the window once had bad feelings overcoming Naruto.

"Is… there any sort of lasting damage caused by the Sound ninja?" Naruto hedged.

"None. At least, not that we can see. Of course, there are certain things that may prove to be long-term problems, but, as I said, those are yet to be seen… Naruto?"

"Mm, yeah?"

"Just ask." Kakashi finally turned to look at Naruto.

"…Where's Sasuke?"

"He's in the hospital, too," Kakashi responded.

"So, he is here? But… he was leaving. He said he was going to Orochimaru—"

Kakashi held his hand up. "You're not to know anymore."

"But—!"

"No." Kakashi was firm. "That was all I came to tell you. That and you aren't to know anymore, and you aren't to see Sasuke at all. No searching for him while you're in here, or when you get out of the hospital. Got it, Naruto?"

Naruto had lowered his head, casting his eyes in shadow, giving Kakashi no indication of what the boy was thinking.

"Naruto…?" Kakashi warningly repeated.

"Yeah, sensei. I got it."

"Good. I have to go now. It's my turn to guard the Uchiha while he's here. Remember: _no_ meeting with him."

"I said I got it."

"Sasuke!" Naruto called.

Slowly, Sasuke turned around, a hardness in his eyes as he faced the voice.

They were in the forests just barely outside Konoha, as far as Sasuke was now allowed to venture from the village.

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" he asked, as if he didn't actually care about the answer. "If anyone finds us, I'm not taking the fall for you following me out here."

"Fine. I'll take all the blame. We won't be caught, anyway," Naruto excuse as he stomped up to Sasuke.

"Oh, no?" Sasuke scoffed without emphasis, turning his back to Naruto.

"No. Someone set the abandoned Hyuga warehouse on fire and everyone available has been sent to put it out."

"Pretty desperate to talk with me, aren't you," Sasuke commented unsympathetically, harshly even, a true note of emotion slipping in.

"Well, I had to speak with you somehow," Naruto shouted in frustration. For the past two weeks after he and Sasuke both had been released from the hospital, Naruto, at every chance, had tried to get a moment alone with Sasuke. Each time, he was buffered by the shinobi guard that seemed to constantly be following Sasuke around, doing their best, it seemed, to keep a meeting between them from happening.

At one point, the lone guard had been Shikamaru, and Naruto had _almost_ convinced him to let him have a brief chat with Sasuke, but then Shikamaru's replacement had come to take over his shift, and Shikamaru hadn't been Sasuke's guard since.

Once he was a few steps from Sasuke's turned back, Naruto stopped and a silence ensued.

"What happened after, Sasuke?" Naruto finally broke the quiet.

"After what?"

"After you almost destroyed me!" Naruto shouted, not believing that Sasuke had the nerve to play dumb about this, of all things.

"'Destroyed you'…" Sasuke repeated musingly, looking up at the sky, feeling the syllables glide over his tongue and past his lips.

"Sasuke! Tell me what happened! No one else has said a damn thing to me about it. I don't even know how you got back here, and I should be the one who gets to know." Naruto stomped his foot. "What's going on?"

"Simple, I walked back," Sasuke answered sardonically, finally letting a note of emotion into his voice. Naruto was ready to strangle him, but instead let a quiet fall upon them.

The silence stretched, but Naruto was _determined_ not to be the one to break it again. He would wait Sasuke out. He would get his answers.

"I… I just couldn't do it," Sasuke began at last. "I was so ready to, determined to finish you, to become as powerful as my brother, and I couldn't."

"Why not?" Naruto demanded.

"I don't know."

"Don't lie, Sasuke! What happened to it being too late to turn back?"

"…"

"…Why do you sound so dead?" Naruto knew changing the subject made it more likely he would never get the answers he needed, but, suddenly, the near lifelessness Sasuke was demonstrating was more vital to him. What was wrong with him?

Sasuke became still, more so than before. Finally, when he moved, it was to scratch the curse seal still evident at the junction of his neck and shoulder. Naruto watched the movement carefully, understandably not having fond feelings towards the mark.

"Do they, the rest of the village, know about your other form? About the second level of the Curse Seal?" he asked abruptly.

"They know that it's a possibility that I have it, but I haven't given them any concrete proof as to whether I've attained that power, and I'm not going to if they don't push me. You're currently the only other person who's seen evidence of it."

Searching carefully, Naruto found notes of self-mockery and… self-loathing?... in the last statement.

"Why not?"

"Why?" Sasuke rejoined. "Both they and I know that if it turns out that I do have that level of power behind me that they won't be able to trust me, not that they do now."

Some time passed.

"…Sasuke, I don't want to be your enemy, or even your rival if that means giving up our friendship." He stared at Sasuke, praying he would look back at him.

"…I just tried to kill you, and you still want us to be friends?" The question easily could have been incredulous, or even sarcastic, but it wasn't either of those, though more than the mere hints of feelings were beginning to build up in Sasuke's voice. The explosion felt imminent.

"Yes, Sasuke." Naruto moved to stand in front of him, wanting nothing more than for Sasuke to lift his eyes. "I'm tired of this… this constant competition with each other. You're the first real friend I've ever had, and this is not the way for friends to act with each other. Can we please stop this?"

…Finally, Sasuke looked up, eyes blazing red with the Sharingan. "I don't know if I can do that, Naruto. I can't stop myself from… _hating_ you for how far you've come," Sasuke admitted in a fierce undertone.

Naruto took a nervous, hurt-filled step back, but he didn't lower his eyes from Sasuke's almost demonic gaze. "Thank you for being honest, Sasuke," he finally slowly said, meaning it.

Sasuke jerked his gaze away from Naruto, gritting and baring his teeth at the absurdity of Naruto _thanking_ him for that.

"Sasuke. I can't stop myself from improving, and I wouldn't even if I could." Any emotion slowly began draining from Sasuke's face, the potential for an eruption seeming to fading, and Naruto was immediately scared by that. "But, what does it matter? We both know that you're always going to be better than me—"

"No, I don't!" Sasuke suddenly shouted, scaring birds from the trees around them, returning his near-murderous eyes back to Naruto. The outburst had started: _Bang_. "I don't know that, not at all! My goal was to surpass my brother, but now all I can think about is becoming better than you! And, staying that way! The fact that we were friends only makes it more relevant that I do so!"

"…'were' friends?" Naruto whispered.

For the final time, Sasuke turned his eyes away.

"Sasuke—"

"Sasuke, Naruto, you aren't supposed to be together." Kakashi appeared a few feet behind Sasuke. "It's time to end this conversation," he stated succinctly.

"If you're really so against us being around each other, why didn't you end the conversation when you first got here?" Sasuke needled, having known the moment Kakashi had arrived on the scene.

"I wanted to see if you two could settle what was between you. Now that it seems you can't, there is no point in letting you continue with this little chat that you seem to be having. Let's go, Sasuke." Kakashi turned away, waiting for Sasuke to follow him.

"I can make my own way home." Sasuke turned away too.

"Wait!" Naruto shouted.

But, Sasuke was gone, leaving Naruto with Kakashi.

"Kakashi…"

"Tomorrow, Sasuke is being put on a team of Chunin who've lost their third member and will be going on a long-term mission with them. You two will be away from each other, and hopefully the challenge and the other Chunin themselves will keep him out of trouble," Kakashi informed Naruto.

"What? You can't do that! We're a team. We need Sasuke!"

"He attempted to murder you. That is not part of the definition of "team.""

"But, he didn't! He could have when I was out. Instead, he came back, just like we wanted him to."

_They can't take Sasuke away. What was the point of bringing him back if they do?_

"He's not even a Chunin! Shikamaru was the only one who passed the exam. How's he supposed to keep up with those guys if he's put on a team with them?"

"He is now." Naruto's jaw dropped and eyes widened. "Tsunade promoted him to such after being caught up with the situation and getting the input of several Chunin and Jounin who had observed Sasuke in the exams. In fact, he originally _was_ to be made a Chunin, and was even told so before he was ordered to go after Gaara. But, at the last minute, it was decided to hold off his appointment until a later date. Today is that later date. He's most likely being informed as we speak."

"You're rewarding him for trying to kill me?" Naruto yelled at Kakashi's back.

"I thought you said that because he didn't actually kill you it didn't matter?"

Naruto fell silent, unable to think up a rebuttal to his own argument.

"Besides, if he was able to handle you with the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra backing you up, he deserves the promotion," Kakashi muttered under his breath.

Finally, Kakashi turned around and, rather than the look of exasperation and sternness that Naruto was expecting, he was given a look of pity and understanding.

"The thing about the Uchihas, Naruto," Kakashi began, "coming from someone who knew one himself, is they are never happy with what they have, what they are. They always want to be better, for the sake of their clan. The fact that Sasuke has no clan seems to make it all the worse for him, because he now carries the responsibilities that would normally be distributed through the _entire_ family. He has to be better than the best. He has to uphold the Uchiha name with no help at all. Do you understand what I'm saying, Naruto?"

"I… I guess," Naruto responded, feeling a pit open in his stomach as he began to realize that maybe he really would have to give up Sasuke.

"Mn. Uh, there are so many factors here that it's hard to explain, Naruto, especially when you have no clan of your own to compare it to. I may not be doing it well enough, but try to comprehend, okay?"

Naruto nodded, looking at the ground.

_What the heck do you know about it? It's not like you ever had a family in the first place! You were on your own right from the beginning! What makes you think you know anything about it, huh? I'm suffering now because I had those ties. How on earth could you possibly understand what it feels like to lose all that? _

Kakashi's eyes softened even more and he walked over to Naruto, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, look at me." He sighed when Naruto refused to. "Or, not. Everyone in the village is… mm, 'frightened' isn't the right word… maybe 'timid' about criticizing Sasuke, because of that burden. You, on the other hand, just by existing and being there as something Sasuke can compare himself to, are constantly, if unintentionally, making him reevaluate himself as whether he is a "worthy" Uchiha. And, that itself unintentionally reminds him that there are no more Uchiha, worthy or otherwise, except for his brother, which—"

"—which reminds him of his vow to kill his brother," Naruto intoned.

He tried to cover it, but Kakashi heard him give a little sniffle.

"Uchihas have an interesting way of thinking, is all to really be said, I guess, though this _is_ an exceptional case… But, if it's any consolation, Naruto, I think that, under normal circumstances, as normal as the Uchiha can get, you and Sasuke would have turned out to be the best of friends, and much earlier on." Though it was unseen to Naruto, there was the gentlest of smiles on Kakashi's lips behind his mask as he tried to comfort the Genin.

"Yes, sensei," Naruto choked out, bringing his sleeve up to his eyes to wipe away the tears he'd tried to keep hidden. A suppressed sob shook his frame.

Kakashi removed his hand and began walking away.

"This will all turn out alright, you'll see. I'll see you later, Naruto. We'll talk then about your punishment for seeking out Sasuke and setting the warehouse on fire."

Naruto gave a brief, hushed laugh. "You really know just want to say, don't you, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said, looking up.

Kakashi winked before disappearing with his ninja speed.

"…If only what you said led to me being with Sasuke."

Naruto arrived back at his home, still struggling with the knowledge that soon Sasuke would be gone.

_At least he's leaving with the Leaf Village's permission this time, rather than leaving to go to Orochimaru._

Not that that was really any sort of consolation. He'd still be gone.

There was a knocking on Naruto's door.

"Sakura?"

"I-I just came to deliver this," she held out an envelope, not looking him in the eyes. "I was visiting Sasuke at his home. All he actually said when I was there was that it was important that you got this… You know that he's leaving tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Kakashi-sensei told me." Naruto reached out a tentative hand to take the letter.

"So, you know that he's a Chunin now, too? And-and that he'll no longer be on our team?" Her voice was becoming thick with tears she was trying to keep held in.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Sakura, that I brought him back only for this to happen," Naruto apologized.

"Well, _you_ didn't really bring him back. He did that all on his own. Don't go taking credit for stuff you didn't do Naruto," she pouted, not trying to be mean, just trying to distract herself. After a moment she brought her hands to her eyes and rubbed the palms against her eyes, trying to keep the tears in. "Are you going to read the letter or what, Naruto?"

"Oh, yeah." Not sure if he really wanted to open it, Naruto stalled by asking, "How were you able to talk to him? I didn't know he was allowed to talk to anyone." _Or, was that just me?_ "I'm surprised they even let you bring the letter. With everything that's been going on between Sasuke and I, you might think it was a paperbomb," Naruto joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"That's not funny, Naruto," Sakura admonished, bringing her hands away from her still wet eyes. "As it was, Iruka was on guard; I don't know if any other guard would have let me through. And, when he learned the letter was for you, he made me hand it over so that he could read it first."

"Iruka-sensei read it?"

"Yes. Either that or he really was looking for _paperbombs_," Sakura retorted, irritated, leaning forward with her hands on her hips.

"And… what did he say about it?" Naruto asked, still trying to put off the letter opening.

"He didn't say," Sakura replied, calm now. "He just said it was okay to give to you. He did sort of get a smile on his face as he read it, but that's all I can say."

_Oh, great._ If Iruka-sensei was happy about whatever had been written, it was probably something about how Sasuke never wanted to see him again. Iruka-sensei may only be doing what he thought was best to protect Naruto's well-being, but that wasn't always what Naruto wanted. A conflict of interests.

_Muh, when _I_ ran into Iruka-sensei when he was on guard duty, he didn't let _me_ see Sasuke,_ Naruto thought petulantly as he finally open the envelope with its pre-broken seal and took out the almost fateful-seeming letter.

He began to read:

_Naruto,_

_This promotion means nothing. Whether I'm Chunin and you're Genin means __nothing__. You are still the person I need to beat…_

_You said that you didn't want to be rivals if it meant giving up our friendship. Our friendship only EXISTS because of that rivalry. So, while you may want to give it up, I'm not willing to. Don't get it into your head that you can get rid of me that easily, loser. You're stuck with me, got that?_

_Anyway, it's not like I was planning on giving up our friendship for nothing… the whole plan had hinged on that friendship._

_As I said before, I don't know quite why I saved you… from me. Partly to be better than my brother in this one respect. Mostly, probably, to do with our being friends. But, that explanation doesn't satisfy me, not in the least. And, I don't expect you to be any happier with it than I am which is why I didn't tell you in the first place. I'm going to keep pondering it, if only to keep in my mind that there __was__ a reason I didn't kill you, so that I won't try again._

_Take that last statement as a warning. Fear me, Naruto. I do. Already twice I've been ready and tried to take your life, and three times a charm, or so they say. Nevertheless, I AM your friend, despite my wishes to surpass you. When I get back, we'll see what happens, but, until then:_

_Yours in rivalry __and__ in friendship,_

_Sasuke Uchiha_

_P.S. Don't tell Sakura about this. She'll only wonder why she didn't get a letter, if she doesn't already._

"Naruto? Are you okay? You're crying," Sakura told him concernedly.

"Mm-hm. Yeah, I'm good, Sakura. Thanks for bringing this by." Naruto rubbed the tears out of his eyes. "I just can't seem to stop crying today," he joked.

"Oh." Sakura was really confused.

Naruto reread the last part. He smirked and chuckled at the sarcasm that was practically screaming off the page in regular Sasuke-fashion.

"What, Naruto? What did he write?" Now that it seemed like Naruto was in good spirits again, Sakura didn't feel she had to suppress her tremendous curiosity any longer.

Naruto gave her a squinty-eyed almost-leer. "Well, Sakura, it's says right here that I'm not supposed to tell you anything, hehe."

"Grr, Naruto! You better tell me what that letter says, or I'm going to knock your block off right into next week, you got that?"

"Jeez, Sakura. It would figure you'd attack a guy just out of the hospital," he continued teasing, feeling more himself since the moment he found out Sasuke had left.

"Since it's you, I don't really see the problem!"

"Ouch!"

"What are you doing here, loser?" Sasuke asked.

"Just came to thank you before you went and got lost in the great, wide world."

"And they're letting you?" Sasuke nodded to the side, indicating a group of Jounin and two Chunin standing several yards away.

"Yup."

One of the Jounin, Kakashi, caught them watching and waved. Naruto waved heartily back while Sasuke just wrinkled his nose on disgust.

"Puh. So, 'thanks' for what?" Sasuke asked like the answer didn't mean a thing, not looking Naruto in the eye.

"Just… for this, is all," Naruto replied, holding the letter up with one hand while scratching the back of his head with the other, not looking at Sasuke either.

"Yeah, well, whatever, you're welcome," Sasuke hurriedly mumbled, fidgeting his foot across the ground.

Naruto suddenly laughed to himself as he put the letter away in his back pocket, catching Sasuke's full attention.

"What's wrong with you now, loser?"

Naruto continued snickering. "I just can't believe you actually tried to kill me."

Sasuke stared at him, seeming frozen by what Naruto had just said. But, slowly, ever so slowly, the tiniest of grins came to his own lips. "I can't believe you actually survived," he jibed back.

"Ah, I'm made of hardier stuff than you'd think, hee."

"Well, we'll see how well you do the next time I try to kill you," Sasuke playfully menaced, giving him a full, teeth-baring smile.

"Yeah, that whole 'Fear me' thing really had me shaking in my sandals. Jeez, Sasuke, you sounded like a bad horror movie," Naruto derided, unable to keep a giant grin off his face despite himself. "Though, I probably _will_ give you some reason to have a go at me the next time we see each other," he conceded.

"No doubt."

"Just know, next time _I'm_ going to try to get _you_ too." Naruto suggestively raised and lowered his eyebrows repeatedly, getting a chortle out of his friend.

"Okay, how about the death threats stop, hmm?" Kakashi questioned dryly as he walked up, coming to stand beside them. "You're getting the rest of us ninja worried. Sasuke, your new team's ready to head out."

"Right. See you later, loser."

"Yep. Just make sure to watch your back out there," Naruto called after him.

"Just worry about watching your own. I'm not going to be there to make sure you don't mess up anymore."

"I was gonna say that!"

Two minutes later and Sasuke was gone, off with his new team to go do god knows what, leaving Naruto and Kakashi alone with each other again.

"I don't suppose that anything will be able to keep you two apart once he gets back, will there?" Kakashi asked, looking sideways down at Naruto.

"Nope. Ya know how it is. You can't keep good friends apart."

Kakashi sighed, though he seemed happy rather than put out. "I suppose that is true."

"Anyway," Naruto started, a grin stretching ear to ear on his face as he looked up at Kakashi, "I'm gonna have to make sure that he hasn't gotten too far ahead of me while he was away."

"I suppose that's true, too," Kakashi replied, eye smiling down at the number one knucklehead of the Leaf village who'd turned back to look through the open gates of Konoha.

_Hurry back, Sasuke. My rival, my friend._

**Thanks for reading! **

**This was my first ****Naruto**** fic, so I hope I was able to get into the characters' heads enough to make it work out alright. I really like ****Naruto****, but I'm not sure if I want to pursue this anime very much. I do have one other idea that may turn into a long-term fic, involving Sasuke and Naruto again in a non-yaoi setting. Other than that, I might write some actual yaoi between them on my other account, , which I made specifically for that sort of thing.**

**Note: I realize people have different opinions on what Naruto's clan is, but, personally, I think that if he did have a clan, they would have taken him in rather than have left him to his own devices like he was.**

**And, feel free not to like my reasonings for Sasuke's motivations. They're just my opinion and do NOT deserve to have a flame war started over them.**

**Other than that, let me know what you think! **


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